I will gladly answer. My favorite Canon lens is the EF 100/2.8L Macro IS. I liked my first one so much, I bought a second one, five years later, in early 2016, when a price drop made it easier to do so. Well, OK, I actually bought a second one, because I had a duty to photograph evidence, crime scenes, and crime victims, so failure was not an option. The only truly quick “insurance policy” is a spare, of one’s primary item.
Why? Well, I knew I liked macro photography, primarily the wonders of the natural world. When such images became a duty, in late 2010, I was willing to upgrade to the best equipment. Weather sealing was highly desirable. A decade later, a 7D II or 5Ds R, with an EF 100/2.8L Macro IS, a Macro Ringlite flash, and one or more 600EX-RT I/II Speedlites, remains the best rig, in the world, for this task.
Hybrid Image Stabilization really does work. Many of my images were shot in hospital emergency rooms, hand-held, because there was no space to use a tripod, and without flash, because it could distract the medical personnel. (Using AI Servo compensates for the shooter’s own forward-and-backward motion.)
I retired almost two years ago, so the “duty” part has passed, but nature photography remains important. This lens works well for portraits, and general photography, too.
I love the ergonomics of this lens, and it is visually pleasing. This is a wonderful time to be a photographer.
